


The Mysterious Valley

by WillStepOnYouForCash



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:35:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26401273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillStepOnYouForCash/pseuds/WillStepOnYouForCash
Summary: This is a series about Oak, who moves to the mysterious Stardew Valley after being their late grandfather’s farm. In this fantastic valley they encounter hardships, monsters, and magic, but they also encounter friendship, love, and freedom.
Relationships: Elliott (Stardew Valley)/Original Character(s), Elliott/Player (Stardew Valley)
Kudos: 1





	The Mysterious Valley

**Author's Note:**

> This part of the story is the prologue, the story before the story.
> 
> Word Count: 1573  
> CW: SFW, weed, language
> 
> more notes at the end.

The monotonous sound of keyboard clicks slowly faded out as Oak stared blankly at their screen. Their fingers stilled and their eyes glazed over as the numbers on their screen became meaningless blocks of text. Joja Co. was the largest employer in the city and Oak was one of the many many people who slowly wasted away in the cooperate office. Short Joja Co. sponsored Joja Cola breaks took place once every 4 hours and one Joja Co. sponsered JojaMart lunch break took place once a work day. Oak took both of these breaks at their desk. The taste of Joja Cola was noxiously sweet, but it was a burst of energy they couldn’t afford to forgo. They didn’t purchase the pre-made lunches from JojaMart, but they weren’t sure that it really mattered in the long run when even the raw ingredients sold by Joja seemed somehow wrong. Sometimes they wondered if worker exploitation was something you could taste.

They were startled from their tranquil thoughts by the sound of the floor manager approaching their desk. They quickly returned to their task at hand and continued entering the data from Joja Co.’s most recent acquisition. By the time Oak finished compiling the data, it would just be another in a long list of independent businesses hunted down and scavenged for parts by the ravenous mega corporation. 

Once the floor manager passed them by, they returned to their thoughts and stared blankly ahead. However, while disappearing into their thoughts usually brought them great relief, today it could not do that. They felt the Joja Co. reaper slowly stripping away their will and replacing it with compliance and acquiescence. Their eyes slowly shifted away from their screen to one of two drawers in their cramped cubicle. As if completely independent from their body, their deathly gray hand reached out and pulled the drawer open. They removed the letter they kept the drawer, ignoring the documents and paper work around it.

As if regaining control of their body, Oak suddenly stopped, was now the right time to open this? Although their grandfather had passed some time ago, they had hesitated to open the letter he left them in his final will and testament. It was just a letter, no wealth, no stocks, just a piece of paper stuffed inside another piece of paper, both probably bought at a JojaMart. Some part of them resented this. They resented that while other surviving family members got old family relics and portions of his savings, all they got was some poetic piece paper. Hesitantly, they opened their letter and read it’s contents,

> _Dear Oak,_

> _If you're reading this, you must be in dire need of a change_

“No dip,” they murmured ever so quietly, lifting their hollow eyes to look at the giant fluorescent Joja Co. sign at the front of the warehouse office with contempt.

> _The same thing happened to me, long ago. I'd lost sight of what mattered most in life... real connections with other people and nature. So I dropped everything and moved to the place I truly belong._

“I guess he really felt at home in a place where the only running water was some muddy-ass river,” they mumbled, in an effort to convince themself that running away from their industrial life would be horrible.

> _I’ve enclosed the deed to that place..._

They paused a moment, and reread that sentence over and over again before slowly moving the first page to see an old yellowing deed.

> _my pride and joy: Providence Farm._

Their grandfather had seemed to treat that farm like a sanctuary. It was his own personal paradise. It was a reprieve and haven that was separate from the toxic whirlpool of consumerism and individualism. On his farm, everyone was valuable, not because of what they could do, but because of who they were. It really was a special place, but it had all but vanished from Oak’s memory over the years.

> _It’s located in Stardew Valley, on the southern coast. It’s the perfect place to start your new life._

> _This was my most precious gift of all, and now it’s yours. I know you’ll honor the family name, kid. Good luck._

> _Love, Grandpa._

> _P.S. If Lewis is still alive say hi to the old guy for me, will you?_

Oak wasn’t sure how exactly to react to the news that they were now the proud owner of land on the southern coast. Were they supposed to be paying property taxes? What were they supposed to do with this land? They didn’t know how to properly take care of a houseplant, much less how to manage a whole farm. Furthermore, were they supposed to just quit their stable job, break their lease, and just up and move to some little town away from the city they had always known?

They left the office in an entirely different mood than usual. Typically they were relieved to exit the suffocating dry air of the office to enter the damp polluted air of Zuzu City, but today they found their head at capacity, with no vacancy for something so trivial as relief. They boarded and exited the bus with not so much as a single conscious step. Their drafty apartment building had never felt so numbing as they unlocked the door to their small studio and suddenly they were met with nothing but the dull buzzing of their ineffective heater that would soon no longer be necessary as spring swung into full effect. As the door shut behind them, it was as though they were snapped into awareness and realized they were no longer at work.

They dropped their bag by the door and kicked off their work shoes only to replace them with their more comfortable rubber house shoes. They tugged their failing ponytail from their hair and let dead green strands fall to their back. They were grateful for the pre-roll on their table which finally drew their attention to something that wasn’t a life altering decision.

Oak sank into their couch and tried their lighter a few times before it finally sparked and produced a flame just big enough to get the joint burning. After a couple of long drags that filled their apartment with a smell their workplace deemed “unprofessional”, they switched their TV on in an attempt to draw their attention far away from their grandfather’s letter. However, as they tapped ashes into their tray Oak couldn’t avoid thinking about it. So many emotions that their daily dose was simply not equipped to dissipate filled their mind. 

In a moment of curiosity, they opened their laptop and looked up Stardew Valley. Then, they looked up Pelican Town, which Providence Farm was technically a part of. It was difficult to find anything particular about the town with a population of approximately 20 people. They weren’t even entirely sure how such a small town actually managed to maintain their township when most places this size would realistically become unincorporated territory for simpler jurisdiction purposes. However, they found the instagram of a resident, Haley. It was mostly beach pics of Haley in stylish swimsuits, but mixed in were some really gorgeous photos of scenes from around the town. It really seemed to romanticize the place.

Oak tried to convince themself that this was enough to satisfy their curiosity, but as they took some of the last drags from their joint before putting out the roach they couldn’t help but look a little further. There was a relatively new JojaMart there, and they couldn’t help but wonder if they had entered data from a family business Joja had ripped to pieces before ceremoniously absorbing. There was also a museum, but there wasn’t a website or anything connected to the location. Finally, there was a bus stop. It connected to a large route of bus stops which could take passengers all over Stardew Valley and even into the greater Ferngill Republic. 

It was easy to buy a bus ticket. Perhaps it was too easy to buy a bus ticket. Zuzu City wasn’t really too far from the southern coast. It wouldn’t be a miserable ride and they really wouldn’t have that many things to bring. Oak went back and forth as they agonized over a decision they didn’t even knew they could make that morning. They could stay in the city and continue their monotonous daily routine and live their life as they expected to. On the other hand, they could take a great risk and set on a path towards the same life their grandfather had done before them.

It really was too easy to buy a bus ticket, because before they could further agonize, they had already done it, and they were emailing their boss that they weren’t coming back to work and they were texting their landlord that they were breaking their lease and that they would send them the month and a half they owed them to do so. They drained what little savings they had to do so, but it felt like it was too late to go back on their choice anyway. They started packing what they could, and prepared the rest to be donated to a nearby thrift shop. In a few days, they would be heading to Stardew Valley to embark on the new life that had been left to them in a will some years ago.

**Author's Note:**

> Do you have suggestions? Are you an expert in all things Stardew Valley? Let me know. I take all comments and suggestions into consideration. That doesn't mean your comment will at all affect how I tell this story, but it will be considered.


End file.
